MEMO, January 10, 2011 21:02

French trial of Israeli boycott campaigners condemned as a "political measure"The trial of activists in France who are campaigning for a boycott of Israeli goods has been condemned as a "political measure". Khalid Mansour, the Coordinator of the Popular Campaign for Boycotting Israeli Goods, said that the trial is intended to deter the people of France from joining the growing Palestinian solidarity campaign in the country. According to Mr. Mansour, the campaign is gaining credibility as it exposes illegal Israeli policies which violate international laws and conventions, and publicises the brutal crimes committed by the Israeli occupation army and illegal settlers.

The trial, said Mr. Mansour in a press release, reflects the state's submission to pressure from French Zionist organisations, which continue to use the "anti-Semitism" card against anyone who dares to criticise Israel and condemn its crimes. Held in Creteil, Paris, the trial led to a €500 fine for one of the French activists. He had been accused of publishing a video of himself and other activists in 2009 shouting slogans calling for a boycott of Israel.

Mr. Mansour stressed that "the friends of the Palestine cause and those who oppose Israeli policies in the occupied Palestinian territories won't be stopped by such trials". Boycott efforts will, he added, "lead to the isolation of Israel around the world, causing it to lose any sympathy it once enjoyed through its misleading claim to be an oasis of democracy in the Middle East". The victims of Nazism have, he said, become the torturers of the Palestinian people.